Title: Our Lady of Lourdes Author: Gail Buckley Date: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 The year was 1858 and the place was the French foothills of the Pyrenees. A young girl named Bernadette Soubirous, her sister Toinette and their friend Jeanne Abadie were out gathering firewood for their families. Toinette and Abadie crossed a stream to gather wood on the other side, but Bernadette hesitated, fearing that wading in the cold water would bring on an asthma attack. When her sister and friend moved out of her sight, she decided to take a chance anyway, and started to remove her shoes....